Teaching Quality Standards
Fostering Effective Relationships
The artefact is an essay which highlights the pragmatic realities of education. Within the paper, I discuss how a stem of Marxist theory argues that the Education System and teachers are like factories and meant to reproduce capitalist exploitation of individuals, this being students. I argue that since the 1960's when this theory was first coined, education has changed from a factory to a place of learning and providing meaningful opportunities for students.
I use examples from Field I as I experienced teachers promoting intercultural understanding by participating in students’ cultural norms. The school’s cultures I had experienced represented how teachers show respect and integrity to their students by understanding their lives, situations, culture, etc. Against previous education systems, my artefact represents how we as current educators move away from being an authoritative figure that relies on power but rather builds positive relationships with students to support student learning.
Engaging in Career-Long Learning
The artefact is a group-based project in which we developed an interdisciplinary unit focusing on Art and Biology. Working in group environments were a huge part of my education experience and it represented how as professionals, we should be collaborating with other teachers. This is especially crucial as education continues to evolve and includes richer interdisciplinary, authentic and inquiry-based learning and tasks to enhance knowledge for both student and teacher.
The website gives an in-depth look into the unit and I found developing it helped improve my practice. As secondary teachers we specialize in our field and this project allowed myself and my groupmates to build on our existing knowledge as specialists and how to connect different subject-specific outcomes together. We continually were seeking out feedback from our course instructor and other groups in order to create our unit plan.
Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge
The artefact is a unit plan I had developed with my mentor teacher during Field III. Visual Art continues to evolve, and I relied on my specialized knowledge to think of connections to Contemporary artists that students are not aware of. The Visual Art field is broad, and its history is long with countless artists and movements. Thereby, it is important to continually create varied, engaging and relevant projects and units for students to do while addressing learning outcomes.
I presented this unit plan to my Art 20 students and they showed me how much relevancy can change student motivation and/or engagement. A few students who had no interest in the previous painting project suddenly came in during lunch to work on this project as they liked collecting shoes. I saw a difference in my assessment as I considered how students used their visual journals to document process, progress and research as a reflection of their finalized project.
Establishing Inclusive Learning Environments
The artefact is an essay based on the experiences and data I collected on student literacy during Field I. I found that the school cultures I witnessed at the time were positive for the most part and affirmed that every student can learn. While the paper focused on how technology and newer media forms impacted student learning and their literacy, the examples provide insight into how teachers address students’ personal and cultural strengths through literacy.
As technology and social media evolve, students’ continually habituate themselves and interact with these digital spaces. By reaching students’ interest through video, podcast, blogging and social media, I can adapt my lessons and projects to engage students outside of the standard sage-on-stage method of teaching. These other forms of media literacy can allow teachers to address specific learning needs by venues outside of traditional text.
Applying Foundational Knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit
The artefact is an essay and artwork that represented my knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit and how I connected to the course topics presented at the time. The artwork I created in my undergraduate years was an assignment for my Indigenous Art History course and used resources from course readings and material to address Indigenous beliefs while ensuring I was not appropriating their art styles. Throughout the paper, I reference how the artwork’s meanings draw from Indigenous philosophy and knowledge, specifically the holistic viewpoint and renewal process respectively.
As a teacher, I would reaffirm how I can grow and maintain my understanding and respect for First Nations, Métis and Inuit culture and belief systems. Much of this paper addresses the impact of colonialism on Canada’s Indigenous people such as residential schools and their legacy. My future practice would involve continued learning about First Nations, Métis and Inuit education.
Adhering to Legal Frameworks and Policies
The artefact is a group essay written by myself and four of my peers. The course material allowed me to develop an awareness of and respond to the laws and ethics that apply to teachers such as the School Act. This competency is one that I can grow in by continuing to develop my professional practice as a teacher.
My experience in Field III allowed me to view this artefact from a new perspective as I engaged in practices, procedures and policies set by my school. I had to push my own boundaries as the adult in the room. I had to remind myself that despite the fact that my students were old enough to drive or have jobs did not mean they were mature enough to handle certain situations. This resulted in not being clear with my classroom expectations or following through with discipline when needed be.
Connect
The artefacts I’ve chosen represent my time in the education program and in essence, are a culmination of my growth as an individual and as a professional. The academic knowledge I’ve gained has not only shown me insight into what it means to be a teacher but gave meaning to certain beliefs I’ve had since entering post-secondary.
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Each of my artefacts certainly represent an academic viewpoint, but all contain a part of myself. From the first semester where I was touched by Palmer’s “The heart of a teacher: Identity and Integrity in Teaching” to my final few days of university where I am beside myself with excitement to get back to Field IV, I’ve grown in my journey. While we as teachers remain in academia and continue to teach generations of students, we also must maintain our human and authentic selves to bridge the gaps with our students. Palmer (1997) notes that “authority is granted to people who are perceived as ‘authoring’ their own words, their own actions, their own lives, rather than playing a scripted role at great remove from their own hearts” (p. 20). I was able to live out academic practices and strategies through my assessment, lesson planning and differentiation but my connection to my students and the joy of teaching them allowed me to live out Palmer’s words.
I integrated peer-feedback by changing certain artefacts such as using my written essays rather than photos or using a combination of them in some cases such as my unit plan and Indigenous Visual Essay. I was initially wary at first of putting them up on my portfolio but was given positive feedback from my critical friend. The gaps that I and my peers noticed during discussion was that despite academic backing, there was still a gap between theory and practice. In particular, while I and many of us believe in the strength of interdisciplinary practices, it’s something that is still hard to find in most schools. The gaps also included further growth in applying First Nations, Métis and Inuit knowledge, as taking one course isn’t enough in my teaching practice, and thoroughly understanding specific school and provincial practices and frameworks.
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It was also discussed that the gaps in my experiences, academia and artefacts stem from being an options-based specialization, that being Visual Art. My experiences have been mostly positive as my students want to be in my class and I’ve yet to really find difficulty in student engagement. This very well is my area of growth as a beginner teacher: I will most likely be teaching outside of my specialization and will need to continue to develop a professional body of knowledge outside of Visual Art. This includes classroom management since core subjects are oftentimes associated with student disengagement. I hope to actually teach a core subject as it’ll allow me to grow in my own teaching practice: creating more connections through an interdisciplinary approach.
Overall, the artefacts and connections to the Teaching Quality Standard have shown me the progression of my time as a pre-service teacher and highlighted the steps I need to take in moving forward in my professional growth.
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References
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Alberta Education (2018), Teaching Quality Standard. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/3739620/standardsdoc-tqs-_fa-web-2018-01-17.pdf
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Palmer, P.J. (1997). The heart of a teacher: identity and integrity in teaching. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 29(6), 14-21. DOI: 10.1080/00091389709602343. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/10.1080/00091389709602343